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UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY
Utah Valley University Library
George Sutherland Archives & Special Collections
Oral History Program
Utah Women’s Walk Oral Histories
Directed by Michele Welch
Interview with Luz Robles
by
Dawn Hathcock
November 4, 2010
Utah Women’s Walk
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET
Interviewee: Luz Robles
Interviewer: Dawn Diana Hathcock
Place of Interview: Senator Luz Roble’s office
State Capitol Complex
Salt Lake City, UT 84114
Date of Interview: 4 November 2010
Recordist: Michele Welch
Recording Equipment: Zoom Recorder H4n
Panasonic HD Video Camera AG-HM C709
Transcription Equipment: Express Scribe
Transcribed by: Alex Strasburg
Audio Transcription Edit: Lisa McMullin
Reference: LZ = Luz Robles (Interviewee)
DH = Dawn Hathcock (Interviewer)
MW = Michele Welch (Director, Utah Women’s Walk)
Brief Description of Contents:
Luz Robles gives a life sketch of herself, including her growing up years in several cities in the northern part of Mexico—Torreo and Durango and Tijuana—and crossing the border to attend school in San Diego, CA. She describes her family life, the importance of getting her master’s in Public Administration, her invitation by Governor Huntsman to become the first Director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs, and her work at Zions Bank. She reflects on what was required of her in becoming the first immigrant and Latina elected in the Utah State Senate as well as the youngest Utah senator elected. She articulates her belief in the importance of women and minorities becoming involved in politics and the women who have mentored her throughout her life.
NOTE: Interjections during pauses or transitions in dialogue such as uh and false starts and starts and stops in conversations are not included in this transcript. Changes by interviewee are incorporated in text. All additions to transcript are noted with brackets. Clarifications and additional information are footnoted.Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 2
Audio Transcription
[00:00]
Beginning of interview
LR: You know contributions and things that happened in this great country, in America—the whole experience of Disneyland—since we were little kids—and SeaWorld. And so I was just lucky enough to have parents that had, you know, the possibility of showing us a lot of what America has and how there are just great things here. So from the beginning, he just always wanted us to go to school here.
So the last city I lived in Mexico was a border town. So I was a border girl for years and used to cross the border every day to go to high school in San Diego and just got fascinated by this great country and started pursuing my American dream as well when I graduated from high school, and I moved to Utah to attend the University of Utah. I was born and raised LDS in Mexico, so going to Utah was kind of the right place at the right time for me, and my parents felt that way.1 It was more about how my parents felt than me; I actually wanted to go somewhere else. I followed their instructions, and I think I did well for that, and I’m appreciative of that. So I end[ed] up in Utah and start[ed] school at the University of Utah. Got my bachelor’s in science—business marketing—there.
At that point, I had started working a lot with the different Hispanic-Latino organizations at the U [University of Utah]—the Center for Ethnic Student Affairs, and we did a lot of work with English as a second language students—ESL students or limited English proficiency students and I—that’s when I started get more exposed to the different disparities a lot of new immigrants and newcomers had in this country, and started working on helping them at least stay through middle school, which right now we’re seeing a huge high school drop out and middle school drop out among minority students, so that’s how I started working on community issues and getting more exposed to that and, you know, years later now, in the state senate, which is a nice, nice deal I guess.
MW: Can I ask a follow-up question?
LR: Sure.
MW: What was the name of the border town?
LZ: It was in Tijuana, yeah, a big city. I call it like it’s a border town; it’s not. There [are] 2.7 million people just in that city; it’s a big city. And you know, it’s just a border with San Diego, so I used—I mean it’s just beautiful. I really enjoy border life. I mean you have the best of the two worlds. San Diego is a beautiful city; you don’t beat San Diego
1. Luz is referring to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; LDS is an abbreviation for Latter-day Saint.Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 3
really. I think it’s one of the most beautiful cities in this country—just gorgeous and perfect weather twelve months a year. It’s a beautiful place, so I enjoy that. And as a matter of fact at one point, I was ready to attend San Diego State University. That was really my first choice for school, but my dad wanted me to move to Utah, so I live here.
MW: What year were you born?
LR: 1978.
MW: Okay, and will you tell us your parents’ names and your brother’s name?
LR: Sure, my mom’s name is Luz as well, Luz Maria, and my dad is Juan Alfonso, and my brother’s name is Mario. My last name is Diaz; I mean Robles is. I acquired that last name through my ex-husband, so that’s the last name—Robles, but my name is Luz Maria Diaz.
MW: Would you like to be on the—for the Utah Women’s Walk, how would you like it to be?
LR: Luz Robles.
MW: Okay.
LR: I mean that’s been, you know, my last name for now close to ten years so I—
MW: Okay.
LR: I embrace that, and it’s important for my little girl too, so I—and that’s how people know me, which is interesting, you know, now change your last name, and you’re like okay.
DH: What’s your family structure like today?
LR: Well, very different than what it was a year ago. I just went through a divorce; I’m in the middle of actually a divorce, and so now my family is my now six-year-old little girl, so she just turned six last week. So she’s a big girl now in kindergarten, and so that’s my family right now—is my little girl. And she spends half of the time with mom and the other half of the time with her dad, and her dad lives here in the Avenues, which is nice; we’re really close.2
My parents, you know—I have, like I said—my parents live back in in Mexico. I mean they actually go back and forth in San Diego and Tijuana. Uh, my mom just started her Ph.D. in chemical engineering too, so yeah. They’re busy, they’re young too, so they, you know, they love it, and my brother lives in San Francisco and attends Stanford. So that’s kind of like family for me. I have really close friends that I call family, and they
2. The Avenues is a neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah.Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 4
are also immigrants to this country so they, you know—we rely on each other because
we may not have our direct family, but we call each other family. So the little kids call
me aunt, and Aileen calls them aunt as well, so it’s all this, you know, all the adopted
families we belong to, so that’s what I call family, and my ward at church that’s also
part of my family so—but family structure right now is my little girl and I.3 My parents
are now living permanently in San Diego, and my brother graduated with his Ph.D. in
Chemical Engineering last year from Stanford.
DH: What are the most important memories you have from your childhood?
LR: You know, I—the most important ones are just the weekends with my parents. I mean,
we had a rule of always going and having dinner on Saturday and going to the movies.
We did spend a lot of time together, and so I’m used to that concept of being with mom,
dad, and the kids in the weekend. I had the opportunity to live close to some of my
cousins, and so—and we used to live actually on the same street. I don’t know—like all
the brothers and sisters purchased three, four homes on the same street, so I for many
years, I grew up close to my cousins; they were my same age. So every afternoon it was
after school after doing homework, we’ll go and play outside, which I think is lacking
now right now with kids with all the PlayStation and all the TV now that we have and
iPods and iPads and everything. I was like your regular kid; we used to jump, run, ride
the bicycle, very safe; I mean just healthy—so those are my memories: me running,
playing, climbing trees, you know, just enjoying the outdoors. I mean just the regular
outdoors, maybe not hiking or anything like that, but that type of stuff and playing
basketball; I love basketball, so I did basketball most of my school years and obviously
not very good since I didn’t pursue that (laughs) but I had fun, and it was just to, you
know—
DH: Is there one experience from your early beginnings that you think prepared you for your
life work?
[06:56]
LR: Yes. So what happened was I—there’s two things that happened that were really eye
opening for me, and obviously I lived in a country where poverty is more significant,
where middle class is almost nonexistent. So I grew up in a place where my parents and
their ways of protecting us and providing everything. So I lived in a little bubble, if you
want to, not realizing—attending a private school, and had, you know—was blessed
with all the things that I needed and never had any problems.
At the same time there was this other world like the other side of my street—a lot of
poverty, a lot of injustice. Because we grew up LDS in Mexico, which is, you know, is a
small community; I mean there’s two million people, but still [in a country of] over a
3. A ward is the basic ecclesiastical unit in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 5
120 million people is still very small community, there were a lot of members in the different wards I attended that were low income poor. Many of them couldn’t read or write—adults. So at the age of fifteen, I got familiar with—I was bugging my parents about teaching them. Why are we not helping them learn how to read and write? And it’s just—I don’t know where I got that from. So my mom is in one of those moments where I was probably getting her really, really annoyed. She’s like, “Well, why don’t you figure it out; there’s a program that the federal government provides that you can be trained and teach adults how to read and write.” So adult literacy.
And I think it was weird because I made a phone call, and you have to be fifteen, and I had just barely turned fifteen in order to get trained like this; so I did. I did all my training, and the program is called INEA [Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos]. Okay, and it’s a federal program within the Department of Education of Mexico, and what it does is they give you books, and you get trained, and you start teaching people how to read and write, and they have to be adults. So I—here’s a fifteen-year-old girl; so I go and I start my little recruitment process at my ward at my church. And I got about four; I started with four. Mostly—well, I think all of them were, no, one man, three women in their late sixties, early seventies, which was even the funnest thing in the world because I—just—here’s a fifteen-year-old girl trying to teach them how to read and write, and it was tough; literacy at the adult age is tough. Literacy at that age is hard. But you have no idea how much that changed my life just seeing them so determined to learn at that age. And I’m like, man, you never stop learning and more importantly [it] was a learning experience for me to give back. Here I was, blessed with all these things, and I was fifteen and I could read and write in three different languages for that matter. And there were people in my community that are great people, people that are contributing to our community that couldn’t read and write. So that’s the first thing that happened to me, and it was life changing. I mean that’s probably is what made me want to be a public servant and really want to just be involved in the community regardless of how blessed I am, regardless of how many things I have in my life.
Then the second one again in Tijuana. By that time, I was eighteen and in my senior year in high school and again—cause they took us on a trip, a field trip or something where they had a lot of—and it was an area where they had a lot of kids that have been misplaced from their families while crossing the border. And those are, you know—you see a lot of that in border towns where kids get lost and these are children, I mean babies. I’m not talking about older kids; I’m talking about the kids between the ages two to twelve, and they are lost. You know, so they lose their families in the process and the chaos of crossing or the parents may pay to have someone cross them because they can’t afford for them to cross paying. So they, the parents, are walking while the kids are being crossed, but they end up in circumstances like that. And so many of these kids are placed back in the Mexican government Division of Child and Family Services.
So I told my mom. Again my mom was always the one guiding me through these processes because I go back to my mom, and I’m like, “Mom, this was horrible; I mean is there something we can do to help these kids? Please bring them something; we have Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 6
so many toys here in our house and food.” So my mom ends up—she’s like yeah, there is the Division of Child and Family Services in Mexico is called DIF, D-I-F. And so I—she ends up giving me the contact name in there that she found, and she’s like, “If you want to go and help and be a volunteer be my guest.” And I don’t think she believed I was going to do it, so I remember bringing my friends with me, and I was like, “Guys, we’re going to go and do this.” So we—I called them and they said, Well, I know it’s very sensitive of course being that they’re minors and we have a—there’s a lot of rules and laws and regulations; you barely turned eighteen, I don’t know. I’m like, “Well, is there something I can do? Like bring something, like if I do a fundraiser, like bring toys.” So they say, Yeah, you can always bring toys and cake. I mean there’s special times if you let us know we can. So I did, so that was a part of my little project—was I went to all my friends’ houses, and we picked up all their toys that they were not using and clothes, and what I wanted to do was take cake. I don’t know what was with me and the cake. I really like cake. So I took cake and orange juice, and I was able to do that; I did that every other week. With food, you know—just the cake, and the kids get to know you; the only hard thing is they don’t want the kids to get used to you and emotionally attached to you, and that was very difficult. So just looking—so for me that that was a learning experience about how many vulnerable populations we have in our communities that need something. And they have no way of speaking up or saying this is what I need or this is what’s good for me, and I think that was when I decided I wanted really to do something to help kids, children. So those were the two in my early years, I mean, that really made a difference.
[13:08]
DH: How important do you think education is for young Hispanic women and women in general?
LR: You know what? Education you see—I think education over all else is important. We should always be learning and getting educated. But in the United States [it] is just your key for success. You really want the American dream, and you have to get education. I mean education is critical. There’s a lot of barriers that we still have to overcome as women, and especially if you are ethnic, you know. A woman of color [has] like an extra layer of barriers, but overall women struggle, and when you—if you don’t have that piece paper that said that you got a degree or technical training or whatever it is or even extra training, I think it makes it more difficult. I think people tend to give you a little more access; they may open the door a little bit wider if they know you have some education. And it also empowers you. I mean, there’s something about education and feeling empowered whether it is real or not it’s just as empowering. And I think for women [it] can make a huge difference in our communities—our political level, at our local level whether it’s in the education system and healthcare system. I think we have a different ways of approaching problems, and we need more women involved. I think gender bias sometimes tends to be harder to overcome than racial bias to me; personally that has been my experience. Being a woman in Utah has been more difficult than being a minority like an ethnic minority. And I know a lot of people get surprised when I say that. Not that being Hispanic makes you very popular—not right now, (laughs) but Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 7
being a woman has you know been an interesting challenge, and that sounds—we need education; that what’s going to open those doors for women I think.
DH: Tell us about your experience in the Office of Ethnic Affairs and also your position at Zions.
LR: You know, so when I got called to Governor Huntsman’s administration to join the Office of Ethnic Affairs and I became the first director for that office because he restructured as a new governor that office, it was difficult because I’m a Democrat, so I wasn’t necessarily in my—I don’t think I ever thought I was going to work for a Republican administration. It was great; I learned so much from doing that. One, I learned to compromise. I learned how important it is to have a bipartisan effort. And I know we hear that a lot on the news, and it becomes this political rhetoric, but it’s true. Bipartisan efforts tend to be, I think, more moderate and where people actually stand; most Americans are in the middle, and I think it reflects more of who we are as Americans when you have bipartisan efforts.
That was great; I mean being in the executive branch understanding how government works. That’s when I learned how government works. Prior to that, I did policy work; I did a lot of lobbying for low-income families. So I was more on the other side, bringing ideas or being critical of ideas. But now the execution of ideas, the execution of laws, which is what the executive branch does, is a 180. And understanding bureaucracy—my master’s was critical. Having my master’s in public administration was extremely helpful, to put hands on demonstrative part of government.
And now at Zions—Zions is a great company to work for. For one, it allowed me to use more of my business degree, but my master’s as well—the administrative portion, and right now in my new position at Zions—because I started as a business resources center director, I was working with small business start-ups or businesses that are ready to get to the next level in what they’re doing. Now in my new position as a Hispanic/Latino market manager, I now tend to do a lot more of community relations pieces for them. And understanding how important banking is, I mean financial literacy—and now more than ever this is a society—we need to be more conscious of how we spend our money, how much we save, what we don’t. I mean understanding those dynamics—our country went through a serious crisis based on the facts that Americans were not saving and were not spending within their budget. I think we’re overspending, which tends to be an issue also in government. So now I just find it to be a great experience. For me, it’s important to empower communities, and working in the diverse markets department for Zions is empowering communities through financial literacy and good services in terms of banking.4
4. As of June 2013, Luz serves at Zions Bank as the vice-president of the Community Development GroupUtah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 8
DH: Has your position in the state senate helped your pursue any goals you are working towards?
LR: Yeah, the senate has been just great—I mean, the opportunity to serve at that level. It’s not as hard to conceptualize the fact that a 104 people make determinations and make decisions of the entire state budget and laws that are applicable to 2.7 million people here. And being one of those voices, I just feel so blessed. I mean it’s been the best experience so far for me at a professional level and as public servant communitywide. Just the opportunity of—first, to listen to people cause people talk to you and people convey their concerns and their, you know—whether they’re angry or happy. I just feel that that’s the biggest blessing is getting to know all these people in your community and getting to hear their stories and their problems and being able to then think outside the box, which is, I think, what we are lacking right now in terms of politicians—people that can think outside the box and find solutions that are effective, efficient, proactive, and that are looking ahead.
I think we get stuck sometimes in the “Oh this is how we’ve been doing it for the last thirty years.” Well, guess what? Our communities are changing; our faces are changing. Utah has seen one of the most drastic demographic changes in the whole country. And I don’t think we’re getting it; I mean you see the legislature, which, by the way, I—my utmost respect to all my colleagues regardless of whether I agree or disagree with them. The service they provide for almost nothing because we don’t get paid that much; we get stipends, which is minimum compared to what we could all have potentially be able to make as professionals. I just respect so much how much they give as public servants, and their families—the sacrifice of time and everything. But I think it’s not reflective of who Utah is now, and that’s a problem, so that’s problematic. I think, for me, I see this as not only an opportunity of representing my constituents, which I’m just so proud of being their senator—my senate district constituents—but also representing all those voices that may not have a representation in Utah and the legislature. Just look at—I mean really, most people need to spend a few hours listening to the discussions because I think it’s eye opening to see how—they're not there yet, and we need to change how many more women [are] elected; we need more minorities elected, more younger people elected—something that is more of who we are as a state. I think we’re going to get there eventually, but we’re not there yet.
So by far the best experience—I mean, it’s just empowering; it’s critical; it’s a lot of responsibility. I do lose sleep on issues when I’m about to take a vote. Some votes are harder than others, and ironically a lot of people don’t even know—some people say, you know, especially in the senate—the senate’s a smaller group of twenty-nine; we serve for four years, so we get to know each other more. The house is seventy-five members and is more chaotic. The senate has more decorum. I mean it’s people have been there longer; they’ve been serving for—before in other positions, and you know, they’re older in terms of age, so it’s a little bit different than the house, and I at first, I thought it was going to be more shocking, and I just love it; I love the decorum in a way. I love the respect that comes from having those discussions respectfully, and I’ve been—I just think there’s more to do in that area in terms of diversifying our legislature. Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 9
But the opportunity to bring up issues and having a voice or having something being said, that if you weren’t being there, that would never brought up, I think it’s the best opportunity for me of service. And that’s how I see my role, is not as someone who is popular. And some of them have come to me and said if it wasn’t for your feedback I never would have thought about that or I’m sorry, I’m not even familiar with that experience or what you’re talking about. Whether because I’m a woman, because I’m an immigrant, because I’m a Latina, a minority or because I’m young, I mean you name it, all of those may not be something that are within their cultural identities right now, and if you don’t have those cultural identities being represented, I think a lot of voices aren’t going to be heard, so I find that to be the most rewarding part of being a state senator right now.
[22:51]
MW: May I ask a follow-up question? Are you the youngest?
LR: Yes, I am—out of the hundred and four members.
MW: Oh, you are?
LR: Yeah, even with the new members that are coming in, I’m still the youngest.
MW: That’s great, good for you. And do you know the demographics of Utah right now as far as the Hispanic population?
LR: Yeah there—well, we’re going to get the 2010 census, but the last American community survey numbers for 2009 I believe were about 13 percent. According to the latest numbers, they are close to 15 percent.
MW: I know they projected—even in 2000 they projected it would be 14 percent by the 2010 census—
LR: Yeah, and I’m thinking we’re going to hit like sixteen—
MW: Yeah.
LR: —by 2010.
MW: Wonderful. I had one other follow up question I wanted to ask. What was it? Before we leave this—your daughter’s name is—
MW: Oh yeah, my daughter’s name is Aileen.
MW: Is it? How do you spell it?Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 10
LR: A-i-l-e-e-n.
MW: Okay, good so—
LR: So it’s said like Eileen, but it’s Aileen, and it’s Greek, and it’s light. So my name is light in Spanish, Luz—
MW: Oh.
LR: —and Aileen is light in Greek, so yeah, just wanted to keep the same—
MW: And tell us who your—which district do you represent?
LR: So I represent Senate District 1, which is the west side of Salt Lake City and parts of West Valley. So Senate District 1.
[24:03]
DH: What do you—what would you like to be remembered for?
LR: That’s an interesting question. I—well, there are a couple things that are really close to my heart. I mean right now I did a lot—most of my—I’m a social justice geek, if you want a term, and I just think that’s—we need so much of that—but I’ve done a lot of work on gang prevention/intervention pieces. Gang related activity, I think, is something we need to take more seriously, and it’s really causing more of a dissonance amongst communities. So I will continue to work on gang prevention and intervention. There’s a lot of work done on suppression, and I think it’s part of the formula towards, you know, having a community free of gangs, but there is more to do there. So that will be a thing that I hope people remember my work for.
And healthcare. I mean healthcare has been a huge passion of mine: trying to find quality access, eliminating disparities, closing those disparities amongst those social determinants whether it’s poverty or race ethnicity. And I hope part of my work will continue in that area.
I think a lot of people will remember me on fights with immigration stuff. You know, immigration is one of those—I mean it’s like the big grey elephant in the room, right? Nobody wants to talk about it. It’s a big mess. But I, you know, I’m confident that there are good public policies that could make a difference, and I will keep on pushing that. And that—it gets me more media attention than my other work.
Overall, I think if people remember me for trying to find justice and equity for people; that would be like the biggest thing for me cause that’s what I’m all about. People have, you know, equity, not equality cause there’s a little bit of a difference there, but just equity in terms of understanding certain social determinants. I mean people don’t get it; poverty’s your biggest barrier. It’s not even race and ethnicity; it’s poverty. Just Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 11
happens that most low-income people happen to be people of color disproportionately impacts those communities. But it—I look at children in my district and how many of them, their only meals that they will have are what they get in school, and you think about America being the richest country in the world and for that to be a reality and for us not to do something about it, I find that to be irresponsible.
So in this huge perspective of what we’re facing as a nation and in all of things, you know, homeland security, and all the things that we need to take care of—because, yeah we are facing a lot of problems: climate change, environmental issues, which I highly support that we need to be more careful. I mean the environment is our mother earth; my daughter is so good at that—protecting the environment—there’s this piece of fundamentally helping others and making sure people—because you know if my neighbors are okay, my community’s going to be better. So it’s not only about me being okay—so I may do okay right now. Who knows? Maybe in the future I may need help—but what if I end up having a disability—and people who have disability is another issue I’ve worked for years.
I have a niece with autism, close to my heart, that’s why I actually became heavily involved with the legislature is doing things initially related to people with autism. Why? Because if we are not investing on what we can do when they’re young and then how their lives can change by investing in that piece, then it’s going to cost more at the end for all of us, but it’s just their quality of life. I want people to have quality of life because then that will make our community better. So if that could be the way people remember me that would be great.
DH: Do you have any specific advice for women in Utah?
LR: You know, Utah—it’s a great place; I go out of state, and people are like how in the world do you have a young Mexican immigrant elected in the state senate? I think Utah is a place where women can succeed with—I mean we have tons of women that are very successful, and they’re doing great things. So my advice is education. That’s the first thing. If you really want to make it, you have to get your education. And then the other thing is to never allow anyone to tell you no. I mean, I’ve heard a lot of “there’s no way” you can win that election, and if I would have heard and actually taken the advice of some of those—and by the way some of those people were people that I still love and respect—but see, women are never going to get asked to do things. You have to actually want to do it and go ahead and do it.
Women never get asked to run for office, by the way; men do. Men are always like, Hey, we should run for office, and I think it’d be great. We don’t get that luxury of being asked. So I always tell women, “If you feel you can do it, and if you want to do it, do it; don’t ask permission.” So I guess my advice is don’t ask permission when you want to do something that is important to you. And that it goes back to—it has to go back to why you want to do it. The reason why you want to do it is what makes a difference. People believe you. Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 12
I mean, I knocked on doors, and I probably didn’t look like a regular senator at all, and I was—nobody knew my name, and I was knocking on doors. And I was—my opponents, both of them—cause I had to take on the Democratic and Republican—both of my opponents were very well known; people who’d been in office for fourteen years—both of them, but I was still knocking on doors, and I was still talking to the mom that could relate to me because I knew what it means to be a mom and having to work. I couldn’t make the mortgage payment if I didn’t work. And I knew what it means to have a kid with autism because I’ve been with my niece with autism. So you have this—people—with women, you just feel it. I mean, you just know when someone is the right person, when someone is going to have your best interests at—as a priority, and I think we are better at doing that than men, with all due respect to men, and I—we need men and they’re great and they’re awesome, but we need more women. Women have this genuine side of them. I don’t know. It’s just I really enjoy working with women. So for women, don’t ever wait for someone to ask you; just go ahead and do it, and if it comes from your heart you’re probably going to succeed as long as you work hard.
You really want to want this; you want to want it like nothing else in order to make it happen. I knew I wanted to be in the senate more than anything, and I work hard. And I walked, and I had the best volunteers, a great campaign, a great family that supported me. I mean, my—during that time my husband was a great support; my little girl was really young; she was like three. But we made it a family affair; that’s important to have your family behind you; it’s hard to do it by yourself. You know, have your family; I’m sure. And just so—if you want it bad, you’ll work hard and you’ll get it. So just don’t—and don’t ever wait for someone to ask you to do it; you have to do it yourself.
DH: Thank you for your time.
[31:28]
MW: And, Dawn, go ahead and ask her if—let’s see I wanted to know—do you have any maxims or sayings that you live your life by—that represent what you think?
LR: I think—well lately, it’s been—no, not really. I mean I—no, I joke about some stuff like the pending doom. Like I used to be a little more pessimistic; I’m more optimistic now. One is you have to be optimistic. Life is hard, and it’s hard to ever—I mean, you learn this—as I get older I get to learn that, you know, it’s not—you may see someone as—you may think, Look how lucky they are; their life is so perfect. And I’ve learned that everyone has their own struggles and battles that they’re struggling with. So one is you have to be optimistic; so at the end of the day life is short, and that I did learn. Life is short, and you want to find happiness, and your happiness may not be the same happiness as the person sitting at your side. So whatever it is that makes you happy, go for it. So right now my whole thing is find happiness, and whatever the cost of that happiness is you just have to go for it.
And then, you know, your family, obviously. Love your family. And the pending doom, I always laugh because you can’t live thinking that pending doom is happening, you Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 13
know. That’s hard; there’s always something happening and just if you want something, work hard for it.
I mean you want to want it bad in order to get it, and I think when you want something bad, you’ll get it. People work hard. I’ve seen miracles happen, but it’s based on hard work. My election didn’t happen just because I was sitting, and it was just so lucky or for me. I work hard; it took me years to get there. I mean working campaigning years, which is longer than your usual campaigns, and so that will be my thing right now is happiness is critical. If you’re happy, if you’re good with yourself spiritually, physically, mentally, then you will be able to make a lot of people happy as well. So for people that have kids, I’m like if I’m happy then I can make my little girl happy; so that’s important.
MW: What Hispanic women in the state of Utah have you admired or have mentored you? Anyone? Any—
LR: Um yeah, I think there’s been different people, so I’ve learned a lot from my friends that are very successful Hispanic women—young—I’ve learned from all of them. I had an opportunity to work with, for example, just Josie Valdez, for example. She ran for lieutenant governor, was a very successful SBA director here—so just names that have been around for longer—a lot of men of course, because men are just in numbers, but you know Theresa Martinez at the University of Utah—just that things they’ve been able to accomplish to open doors for everybody else. Because this is what happens when you’re a minority and whether it’s based on gender or, you know, ethnicity, religion, somebody else has to open those doors. I feel like I may be opening doors for others, but somebody else already opened the door for me.
You know, Alicia Suazo, for example. She was—she took over her husband’s seat when he died, Pete Suazo—so this was Senator Pete Suazo's seat; he passed away on an ATV accident—tragic accident ’01, ‘02?5 His wife [who was a] teacher—elementary teacher—in Rose Park took over his seat, but she didn’t want it back; it wasn’t what she wanted to do. But she is just amazing.
You have Dahlia Cordova for example. When I worked at Salt Lake [City] School District, she was a principal of Franklin Elementary, and now she’s a principal for—it’s a school in my district to, I just forgot; I spaced it—a great school, amazing stuff in terms of education hands down, wow.
So for me it’s just people that have made a huge difference in their areas of expertise—that have—I just I—like in my area and have been mentors in terms of just teaching me what they know in that area. So that would be—and my friends. I mean I have great friends; it’s funny cause when you’re friends, you’re in this very personal level, but when I see them in their areas working—for example, one of my best friends, her name
5. Pete Suazo was Utah’s first Hispanic state senator; he died in an ATV accident in 2001. His wife, Alicia Suzao, was asked to finish out his term in office.Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 14
is Sylvia Haro; she’s a very predominant, you know, prominent Republican, Latina Republican. Many of my friends happen to be Republicans, and it—but I—she worked in banking. She worked for Zions bank before I came in. I just love some of the stuff she’s done; I’m just like love it. I mean she’s just so good with people, just so good with PR and communications and the way she handles herself; I just love her. I want to be like you when I get older.
So you know, just some of those people that have been just interesting to see them in action, I like that. A lot of people say the same thing about me when they know me personally; they’re like, “Oh, you’re a senator? Like cause I’m pretty laid back and I’m pretty funny and I like to joke a lot. They’re like, Do you transform yourself when you’re talking about immigration or serious issues. And I’m like, “Probably,” because that’s just where I am, but I like to see that with other people too when they just change towards their whatever they’re good at, you know, their professional side of them, and I learn a lot from that too.
MW: Your advice you’ve given to women in general, would it be the same for Hispanic women in the state of Utah—
LR: Oh yeah.
MW: —or do you have special—
LR: No, you know, I think, the nice thing—I think Hispanic women have a lot of opportunities. It’s funny, you know; it’s hard to overcome some barriers, but at the same time when you’re working hard, people recognize that and when people are in need for diversity, you know, they will continue to look for you.
One of the people that I admire the most, and I don’t want to go without mentioning her, it’s one of my best friends, and she is—she just made partner—the first minority partner, I think, and woman partner—woman minority partner for Holland & Hart, which is a huge law firm. Her name is Cecilia Romero; she happens to be married to Senator Ross Romero, but see, for me, it’s not Senator Ross Romero’s wife; he is the husband of Cecilia Romero. One of the most intelligent women, she’s really young; she’s probably like three years older than me. We went to school together; she actually introduced me to the father of my daughter. We won’t blame her for that, just joking, (laughter) but she is a one of my closest friend. She’s the mother of two little kids—amazing. She just made partner. I mean, I want that, and I told her my take, “I’m going to be getting you some covers for that.” And she’s like, “Are you crazy? I don’t want that.” Because you hear her story—her story is one of those compelling, you know, first generation American stories—amazing—so I just love her. She’s an attorney; she’s just a scary attorney. If I need help, I’ll go to her. (laughs) Amazing, you know, it’s just like—and then you see her in her personal life: what a great mom she is, what a great wife she is, what a great friend she is—you know and just want—you just have to balance your life. It’s a good example of balance in someone’s life; she will be one of mine. Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 15
MW: Good.
[39:10]
MW: Do you have any other questions, Dawn?
DH: Nope.
MW: If we have follow up questions for you—
LR: Just come in.
MW: Or email—
LR: Oh yeah, email me.
MW: —you or call you—
LR: Yeah, email me.
MW: —because we may need to know spellings or—
LR: Yes, for the names.
MW: —or something—
LR: Uh-huh.
MW: —or names and contacts.
LR: Just email me; that’d be great, yeah thank you.
MW: Thank you for your time. Anything else you would like to add—that you would like—
LR: No, just thank you for doing this. I think sometimes we, as women are more shy of talking about the great accomplishments women have, and in this great state this is pretty normal thing of women, you know. We are harder on ourselves and sometimes forget to just talk about who we are and embrace the great successes. I thank you for doing this, and this is really cool and awesome. I’m looking forward to seeing this.
MW: Well, we are really grateful for your time and grateful to have you on there; we only have right now—we have Ruby Chacon an artist, a Hispanic artist. Are you familiar with her?
End of interview

UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY
Utah Valley University Library
George Sutherland Archives & Special Collections
Oral History Program
Utah Women’s Walk Oral Histories
Directed by Michele Welch
Interview with Luz Robles
by
Dawn Hathcock
November 4, 2010
Utah Women’s Walk
TRANSCRIPTION COVER SHEET
Interviewee: Luz Robles
Interviewer: Dawn Diana Hathcock
Place of Interview: Senator Luz Roble’s office
State Capitol Complex
Salt Lake City, UT 84114
Date of Interview: 4 November 2010
Recordist: Michele Welch
Recording Equipment: Zoom Recorder H4n
Panasonic HD Video Camera AG-HM C709
Transcription Equipment: Express Scribe
Transcribed by: Alex Strasburg
Audio Transcription Edit: Lisa McMullin
Reference: LZ = Luz Robles (Interviewee)
DH = Dawn Hathcock (Interviewer)
MW = Michele Welch (Director, Utah Women’s Walk)
Brief Description of Contents:
Luz Robles gives a life sketch of herself, including her growing up years in several cities in the northern part of Mexico—Torreo and Durango and Tijuana—and crossing the border to attend school in San Diego, CA. She describes her family life, the importance of getting her master’s in Public Administration, her invitation by Governor Huntsman to become the first Director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs, and her work at Zions Bank. She reflects on what was required of her in becoming the first immigrant and Latina elected in the Utah State Senate as well as the youngest Utah senator elected. She articulates her belief in the importance of women and minorities becoming involved in politics and the women who have mentored her throughout her life.
NOTE: Interjections during pauses or transitions in dialogue such as uh and false starts and starts and stops in conversations are not included in this transcript. Changes by interviewee are incorporated in text. All additions to transcript are noted with brackets. Clarifications and additional information are footnoted.Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 2
Audio Transcription
[00:00]
Beginning of interview
LR: You know contributions and things that happened in this great country, in America—the whole experience of Disneyland—since we were little kids—and SeaWorld. And so I was just lucky enough to have parents that had, you know, the possibility of showing us a lot of what America has and how there are just great things here. So from the beginning, he just always wanted us to go to school here.
So the last city I lived in Mexico was a border town. So I was a border girl for years and used to cross the border every day to go to high school in San Diego and just got fascinated by this great country and started pursuing my American dream as well when I graduated from high school, and I moved to Utah to attend the University of Utah. I was born and raised LDS in Mexico, so going to Utah was kind of the right place at the right time for me, and my parents felt that way.1 It was more about how my parents felt than me; I actually wanted to go somewhere else. I followed their instructions, and I think I did well for that, and I’m appreciative of that. So I end[ed] up in Utah and start[ed] school at the University of Utah. Got my bachelor’s in science—business marketing—there.
At that point, I had started working a lot with the different Hispanic-Latino organizations at the U [University of Utah]—the Center for Ethnic Student Affairs, and we did a lot of work with English as a second language students—ESL students or limited English proficiency students and I—that’s when I started get more exposed to the different disparities a lot of new immigrants and newcomers had in this country, and started working on helping them at least stay through middle school, which right now we’re seeing a huge high school drop out and middle school drop out among minority students, so that’s how I started working on community issues and getting more exposed to that and, you know, years later now, in the state senate, which is a nice, nice deal I guess.
MW: Can I ask a follow-up question?
LR: Sure.
MW: What was the name of the border town?
LZ: It was in Tijuana, yeah, a big city. I call it like it’s a border town; it’s not. There [are] 2.7 million people just in that city; it’s a big city. And you know, it’s just a border with San Diego, so I used—I mean it’s just beautiful. I really enjoy border life. I mean you have the best of the two worlds. San Diego is a beautiful city; you don’t beat San Diego
1. Luz is referring to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; LDS is an abbreviation for Latter-day Saint.Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 3
really. I think it’s one of the most beautiful cities in this country—just gorgeous and perfect weather twelve months a year. It’s a beautiful place, so I enjoy that. And as a matter of fact at one point, I was ready to attend San Diego State University. That was really my first choice for school, but my dad wanted me to move to Utah, so I live here.
MW: What year were you born?
LR: 1978.
MW: Okay, and will you tell us your parents’ names and your brother’s name?
LR: Sure, my mom’s name is Luz as well, Luz Maria, and my dad is Juan Alfonso, and my brother’s name is Mario. My last name is Diaz; I mean Robles is. I acquired that last name through my ex-husband, so that’s the last name—Robles, but my name is Luz Maria Diaz.
MW: Would you like to be on the—for the Utah Women’s Walk, how would you like it to be?
LR: Luz Robles.
MW: Okay.
LR: I mean that’s been, you know, my last name for now close to ten years so I—
MW: Okay.
LR: I embrace that, and it’s important for my little girl too, so I—and that’s how people know me, which is interesting, you know, now change your last name, and you’re like okay.
DH: What’s your family structure like today?
LR: Well, very different than what it was a year ago. I just went through a divorce; I’m in the middle of actually a divorce, and so now my family is my now six-year-old little girl, so she just turned six last week. So she’s a big girl now in kindergarten, and so that’s my family right now—is my little girl. And she spends half of the time with mom and the other half of the time with her dad, and her dad lives here in the Avenues, which is nice; we’re really close.2
My parents, you know—I have, like I said—my parents live back in in Mexico. I mean they actually go back and forth in San Diego and Tijuana. Uh, my mom just started her Ph.D. in chemical engineering too, so yeah. They’re busy, they’re young too, so they, you know, they love it, and my brother lives in San Francisco and attends Stanford. So that’s kind of like family for me. I have really close friends that I call family, and they
2. The Avenues is a neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah.Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 4
are also immigrants to this country so they, you know—we rely on each other because
we may not have our direct family, but we call each other family. So the little kids call
me aunt, and Aileen calls them aunt as well, so it’s all this, you know, all the adopted
families we belong to, so that’s what I call family, and my ward at church that’s also
part of my family so—but family structure right now is my little girl and I.3 My parents
are now living permanently in San Diego, and my brother graduated with his Ph.D. in
Chemical Engineering last year from Stanford.
DH: What are the most important memories you have from your childhood?
LR: You know, I—the most important ones are just the weekends with my parents. I mean,
we had a rule of always going and having dinner on Saturday and going to the movies.
We did spend a lot of time together, and so I’m used to that concept of being with mom,
dad, and the kids in the weekend. I had the opportunity to live close to some of my
cousins, and so—and we used to live actually on the same street. I don’t know—like all
the brothers and sisters purchased three, four homes on the same street, so I for many
years, I grew up close to my cousins; they were my same age. So every afternoon it was
after school after doing homework, we’ll go and play outside, which I think is lacking
now right now with kids with all the PlayStation and all the TV now that we have and
iPods and iPads and everything. I was like your regular kid; we used to jump, run, ride
the bicycle, very safe; I mean just healthy—so those are my memories: me running,
playing, climbing trees, you know, just enjoying the outdoors. I mean just the regular
outdoors, maybe not hiking or anything like that, but that type of stuff and playing
basketball; I love basketball, so I did basketball most of my school years and obviously
not very good since I didn’t pursue that (laughs) but I had fun, and it was just to, you
know—
DH: Is there one experience from your early beginnings that you think prepared you for your
life work?
[06:56]
LR: Yes. So what happened was I—there’s two things that happened that were really eye
opening for me, and obviously I lived in a country where poverty is more significant,
where middle class is almost nonexistent. So I grew up in a place where my parents and
their ways of protecting us and providing everything. So I lived in a little bubble, if you
want to, not realizing—attending a private school, and had, you know—was blessed
with all the things that I needed and never had any problems.
At the same time there was this other world like the other side of my street—a lot of
poverty, a lot of injustice. Because we grew up LDS in Mexico, which is, you know, is a
small community; I mean there’s two million people, but still [in a country of] over a
3. A ward is the basic ecclesiastical unit in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 5
120 million people is still very small community, there were a lot of members in the different wards I attended that were low income poor. Many of them couldn’t read or write—adults. So at the age of fifteen, I got familiar with—I was bugging my parents about teaching them. Why are we not helping them learn how to read and write? And it’s just—I don’t know where I got that from. So my mom is in one of those moments where I was probably getting her really, really annoyed. She’s like, “Well, why don’t you figure it out; there’s a program that the federal government provides that you can be trained and teach adults how to read and write.” So adult literacy.
And I think it was weird because I made a phone call, and you have to be fifteen, and I had just barely turned fifteen in order to get trained like this; so I did. I did all my training, and the program is called INEA [Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos]. Okay, and it’s a federal program within the Department of Education of Mexico, and what it does is they give you books, and you get trained, and you start teaching people how to read and write, and they have to be adults. So I—here’s a fifteen-year-old girl; so I go and I start my little recruitment process at my ward at my church. And I got about four; I started with four. Mostly—well, I think all of them were, no, one man, three women in their late sixties, early seventies, which was even the funnest thing in the world because I—just—here’s a fifteen-year-old girl trying to teach them how to read and write, and it was tough; literacy at the adult age is tough. Literacy at that age is hard. But you have no idea how much that changed my life just seeing them so determined to learn at that age. And I’m like, man, you never stop learning and more importantly [it] was a learning experience for me to give back. Here I was, blessed with all these things, and I was fifteen and I could read and write in three different languages for that matter. And there were people in my community that are great people, people that are contributing to our community that couldn’t read and write. So that’s the first thing that happened to me, and it was life changing. I mean that’s probably is what made me want to be a public servant and really want to just be involved in the community regardless of how blessed I am, regardless of how many things I have in my life.
Then the second one again in Tijuana. By that time, I was eighteen and in my senior year in high school and again—cause they took us on a trip, a field trip or something where they had a lot of—and it was an area where they had a lot of kids that have been misplaced from their families while crossing the border. And those are, you know—you see a lot of that in border towns where kids get lost and these are children, I mean babies. I’m not talking about older kids; I’m talking about the kids between the ages two to twelve, and they are lost. You know, so they lose their families in the process and the chaos of crossing or the parents may pay to have someone cross them because they can’t afford for them to cross paying. So they, the parents, are walking while the kids are being crossed, but they end up in circumstances like that. And so many of these kids are placed back in the Mexican government Division of Child and Family Services.
So I told my mom. Again my mom was always the one guiding me through these processes because I go back to my mom, and I’m like, “Mom, this was horrible; I mean is there something we can do to help these kids? Please bring them something; we have Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 6
so many toys here in our house and food.” So my mom ends up—she’s like yeah, there is the Division of Child and Family Services in Mexico is called DIF, D-I-F. And so I—she ends up giving me the contact name in there that she found, and she’s like, “If you want to go and help and be a volunteer be my guest.” And I don’t think she believed I was going to do it, so I remember bringing my friends with me, and I was like, “Guys, we’re going to go and do this.” So we—I called them and they said, Well, I know it’s very sensitive of course being that they’re minors and we have a—there’s a lot of rules and laws and regulations; you barely turned eighteen, I don’t know. I’m like, “Well, is there something I can do? Like bring something, like if I do a fundraiser, like bring toys.” So they say, Yeah, you can always bring toys and cake. I mean there’s special times if you let us know we can. So I did, so that was a part of my little project—was I went to all my friends’ houses, and we picked up all their toys that they were not using and clothes, and what I wanted to do was take cake. I don’t know what was with me and the cake. I really like cake. So I took cake and orange juice, and I was able to do that; I did that every other week. With food, you know—just the cake, and the kids get to know you; the only hard thing is they don’t want the kids to get used to you and emotionally attached to you, and that was very difficult. So just looking—so for me that that was a learning experience about how many vulnerable populations we have in our communities that need something. And they have no way of speaking up or saying this is what I need or this is what’s good for me, and I think that was when I decided I wanted really to do something to help kids, children. So those were the two in my early years, I mean, that really made a difference.
[13:08]
DH: How important do you think education is for young Hispanic women and women in general?
LR: You know what? Education you see—I think education over all else is important. We should always be learning and getting educated. But in the United States [it] is just your key for success. You really want the American dream, and you have to get education. I mean education is critical. There’s a lot of barriers that we still have to overcome as women, and especially if you are ethnic, you know. A woman of color [has] like an extra layer of barriers, but overall women struggle, and when you—if you don’t have that piece paper that said that you got a degree or technical training or whatever it is or even extra training, I think it makes it more difficult. I think people tend to give you a little more access; they may open the door a little bit wider if they know you have some education. And it also empowers you. I mean, there’s something about education and feeling empowered whether it is real or not it’s just as empowering. And I think for women [it] can make a huge difference in our communities—our political level, at our local level whether it’s in the education system and healthcare system. I think we have a different ways of approaching problems, and we need more women involved. I think gender bias sometimes tends to be harder to overcome than racial bias to me; personally that has been my experience. Being a woman in Utah has been more difficult than being a minority like an ethnic minority. And I know a lot of people get surprised when I say that. Not that being Hispanic makes you very popular—not right now, (laughs) but Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 7
being a woman has you know been an interesting challenge, and that sounds—we need education; that what’s going to open those doors for women I think.
DH: Tell us about your experience in the Office of Ethnic Affairs and also your position at Zions.
LR: You know, so when I got called to Governor Huntsman’s administration to join the Office of Ethnic Affairs and I became the first director for that office because he restructured as a new governor that office, it was difficult because I’m a Democrat, so I wasn’t necessarily in my—I don’t think I ever thought I was going to work for a Republican administration. It was great; I learned so much from doing that. One, I learned to compromise. I learned how important it is to have a bipartisan effort. And I know we hear that a lot on the news, and it becomes this political rhetoric, but it’s true. Bipartisan efforts tend to be, I think, more moderate and where people actually stand; most Americans are in the middle, and I think it reflects more of who we are as Americans when you have bipartisan efforts.
That was great; I mean being in the executive branch understanding how government works. That’s when I learned how government works. Prior to that, I did policy work; I did a lot of lobbying for low-income families. So I was more on the other side, bringing ideas or being critical of ideas. But now the execution of ideas, the execution of laws, which is what the executive branch does, is a 180. And understanding bureaucracy—my master’s was critical. Having my master’s in public administration was extremely helpful, to put hands on demonstrative part of government.
And now at Zions—Zions is a great company to work for. For one, it allowed me to use more of my business degree, but my master’s as well—the administrative portion, and right now in my new position at Zions—because I started as a business resources center director, I was working with small business start-ups or businesses that are ready to get to the next level in what they’re doing. Now in my new position as a Hispanic/Latino market manager, I now tend to do a lot more of community relations pieces for them. And understanding how important banking is, I mean financial literacy—and now more than ever this is a society—we need to be more conscious of how we spend our money, how much we save, what we don’t. I mean understanding those dynamics—our country went through a serious crisis based on the facts that Americans were not saving and were not spending within their budget. I think we’re overspending, which tends to be an issue also in government. So now I just find it to be a great experience. For me, it’s important to empower communities, and working in the diverse markets department for Zions is empowering communities through financial literacy and good services in terms of banking.4
4. As of June 2013, Luz serves at Zions Bank as the vice-president of the Community Development GroupUtah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 8
DH: Has your position in the state senate helped your pursue any goals you are working towards?
LR: Yeah, the senate has been just great—I mean, the opportunity to serve at that level. It’s not as hard to conceptualize the fact that a 104 people make determinations and make decisions of the entire state budget and laws that are applicable to 2.7 million people here. And being one of those voices, I just feel so blessed. I mean it’s been the best experience so far for me at a professional level and as public servant communitywide. Just the opportunity of—first, to listen to people cause people talk to you and people convey their concerns and their, you know—whether they’re angry or happy. I just feel that that’s the biggest blessing is getting to know all these people in your community and getting to hear their stories and their problems and being able to then think outside the box, which is, I think, what we are lacking right now in terms of politicians—people that can think outside the box and find solutions that are effective, efficient, proactive, and that are looking ahead.
I think we get stuck sometimes in the “Oh this is how we’ve been doing it for the last thirty years.” Well, guess what? Our communities are changing; our faces are changing. Utah has seen one of the most drastic demographic changes in the whole country. And I don’t think we’re getting it; I mean you see the legislature, which, by the way, I—my utmost respect to all my colleagues regardless of whether I agree or disagree with them. The service they provide for almost nothing because we don’t get paid that much; we get stipends, which is minimum compared to what we could all have potentially be able to make as professionals. I just respect so much how much they give as public servants, and their families—the sacrifice of time and everything. But I think it’s not reflective of who Utah is now, and that’s a problem, so that’s problematic. I think, for me, I see this as not only an opportunity of representing my constituents, which I’m just so proud of being their senator—my senate district constituents—but also representing all those voices that may not have a representation in Utah and the legislature. Just look at—I mean really, most people need to spend a few hours listening to the discussions because I think it’s eye opening to see how—they're not there yet, and we need to change how many more women [are] elected; we need more minorities elected, more younger people elected—something that is more of who we are as a state. I think we’re going to get there eventually, but we’re not there yet.
So by far the best experience—I mean, it’s just empowering; it’s critical; it’s a lot of responsibility. I do lose sleep on issues when I’m about to take a vote. Some votes are harder than others, and ironically a lot of people don’t even know—some people say, you know, especially in the senate—the senate’s a smaller group of twenty-nine; we serve for four years, so we get to know each other more. The house is seventy-five members and is more chaotic. The senate has more decorum. I mean it’s people have been there longer; they’ve been serving for—before in other positions, and you know, they’re older in terms of age, so it’s a little bit different than the house, and I at first, I thought it was going to be more shocking, and I just love it; I love the decorum in a way. I love the respect that comes from having those discussions respectfully, and I’ve been—I just think there’s more to do in that area in terms of diversifying our legislature. Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 9
But the opportunity to bring up issues and having a voice or having something being said, that if you weren’t being there, that would never brought up, I think it’s the best opportunity for me of service. And that’s how I see my role, is not as someone who is popular. And some of them have come to me and said if it wasn’t for your feedback I never would have thought about that or I’m sorry, I’m not even familiar with that experience or what you’re talking about. Whether because I’m a woman, because I’m an immigrant, because I’m a Latina, a minority or because I’m young, I mean you name it, all of those may not be something that are within their cultural identities right now, and if you don’t have those cultural identities being represented, I think a lot of voices aren’t going to be heard, so I find that to be the most rewarding part of being a state senator right now.
[22:51]
MW: May I ask a follow-up question? Are you the youngest?
LR: Yes, I am—out of the hundred and four members.
MW: Oh, you are?
LR: Yeah, even with the new members that are coming in, I’m still the youngest.
MW: That’s great, good for you. And do you know the demographics of Utah right now as far as the Hispanic population?
LR: Yeah there—well, we’re going to get the 2010 census, but the last American community survey numbers for 2009 I believe were about 13 percent. According to the latest numbers, they are close to 15 percent.
MW: I know they projected—even in 2000 they projected it would be 14 percent by the 2010 census—
LR: Yeah, and I’m thinking we’re going to hit like sixteen—
MW: Yeah.
LR: —by 2010.
MW: Wonderful. I had one other follow up question I wanted to ask. What was it? Before we leave this—your daughter’s name is—
MW: Oh yeah, my daughter’s name is Aileen.
MW: Is it? How do you spell it?Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 10
LR: A-i-l-e-e-n.
MW: Okay, good so—
LR: So it’s said like Eileen, but it’s Aileen, and it’s Greek, and it’s light. So my name is light in Spanish, Luz—
MW: Oh.
LR: —and Aileen is light in Greek, so yeah, just wanted to keep the same—
MW: And tell us who your—which district do you represent?
LR: So I represent Senate District 1, which is the west side of Salt Lake City and parts of West Valley. So Senate District 1.
[24:03]
DH: What do you—what would you like to be remembered for?
LR: That’s an interesting question. I—well, there are a couple things that are really close to my heart. I mean right now I did a lot—most of my—I’m a social justice geek, if you want a term, and I just think that’s—we need so much of that—but I’ve done a lot of work on gang prevention/intervention pieces. Gang related activity, I think, is something we need to take more seriously, and it’s really causing more of a dissonance amongst communities. So I will continue to work on gang prevention and intervention. There’s a lot of work done on suppression, and I think it’s part of the formula towards, you know, having a community free of gangs, but there is more to do there. So that will be a thing that I hope people remember my work for.
And healthcare. I mean healthcare has been a huge passion of mine: trying to find quality access, eliminating disparities, closing those disparities amongst those social determinants whether it’s poverty or race ethnicity. And I hope part of my work will continue in that area.
I think a lot of people will remember me on fights with immigration stuff. You know, immigration is one of those—I mean it’s like the big grey elephant in the room, right? Nobody wants to talk about it. It’s a big mess. But I, you know, I’m confident that there are good public policies that could make a difference, and I will keep on pushing that. And that—it gets me more media attention than my other work.
Overall, I think if people remember me for trying to find justice and equity for people; that would be like the biggest thing for me cause that’s what I’m all about. People have, you know, equity, not equality cause there’s a little bit of a difference there, but just equity in terms of understanding certain social determinants. I mean people don’t get it; poverty’s your biggest barrier. It’s not even race and ethnicity; it’s poverty. Just Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 11
happens that most low-income people happen to be people of color disproportionately impacts those communities. But it—I look at children in my district and how many of them, their only meals that they will have are what they get in school, and you think about America being the richest country in the world and for that to be a reality and for us not to do something about it, I find that to be irresponsible.
So in this huge perspective of what we’re facing as a nation and in all of things, you know, homeland security, and all the things that we need to take care of—because, yeah we are facing a lot of problems: climate change, environmental issues, which I highly support that we need to be more careful. I mean the environment is our mother earth; my daughter is so good at that—protecting the environment—there’s this piece of fundamentally helping others and making sure people—because you know if my neighbors are okay, my community’s going to be better. So it’s not only about me being okay—so I may do okay right now. Who knows? Maybe in the future I may need help—but what if I end up having a disability—and people who have disability is another issue I’ve worked for years.
I have a niece with autism, close to my heart, that’s why I actually became heavily involved with the legislature is doing things initially related to people with autism. Why? Because if we are not investing on what we can do when they’re young and then how their lives can change by investing in that piece, then it’s going to cost more at the end for all of us, but it’s just their quality of life. I want people to have quality of life because then that will make our community better. So if that could be the way people remember me that would be great.
DH: Do you have any specific advice for women in Utah?
LR: You know, Utah—it’s a great place; I go out of state, and people are like how in the world do you have a young Mexican immigrant elected in the state senate? I think Utah is a place where women can succeed with—I mean we have tons of women that are very successful, and they’re doing great things. So my advice is education. That’s the first thing. If you really want to make it, you have to get your education. And then the other thing is to never allow anyone to tell you no. I mean, I’ve heard a lot of “there’s no way” you can win that election, and if I would have heard and actually taken the advice of some of those—and by the way some of those people were people that I still love and respect—but see, women are never going to get asked to do things. You have to actually want to do it and go ahead and do it.
Women never get asked to run for office, by the way; men do. Men are always like, Hey, we should run for office, and I think it’d be great. We don’t get that luxury of being asked. So I always tell women, “If you feel you can do it, and if you want to do it, do it; don’t ask permission.” So I guess my advice is don’t ask permission when you want to do something that is important to you. And that it goes back to—it has to go back to why you want to do it. The reason why you want to do it is what makes a difference. People believe you. Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 12
I mean, I knocked on doors, and I probably didn’t look like a regular senator at all, and I was—nobody knew my name, and I was knocking on doors. And I was—my opponents, both of them—cause I had to take on the Democratic and Republican—both of my opponents were very well known; people who’d been in office for fourteen years—both of them, but I was still knocking on doors, and I was still talking to the mom that could relate to me because I knew what it means to be a mom and having to work. I couldn’t make the mortgage payment if I didn’t work. And I knew what it means to have a kid with autism because I’ve been with my niece with autism. So you have this—people—with women, you just feel it. I mean, you just know when someone is the right person, when someone is going to have your best interests at—as a priority, and I think we are better at doing that than men, with all due respect to men, and I—we need men and they’re great and they’re awesome, but we need more women. Women have this genuine side of them. I don’t know. It’s just I really enjoy working with women. So for women, don’t ever wait for someone to ask you; just go ahead and do it, and if it comes from your heart you’re probably going to succeed as long as you work hard.
You really want to want this; you want to want it like nothing else in order to make it happen. I knew I wanted to be in the senate more than anything, and I work hard. And I walked, and I had the best volunteers, a great campaign, a great family that supported me. I mean, my—during that time my husband was a great support; my little girl was really young; she was like three. But we made it a family affair; that’s important to have your family behind you; it’s hard to do it by yourself. You know, have your family; I’m sure. And just so—if you want it bad, you’ll work hard and you’ll get it. So just don’t—and don’t ever wait for someone to ask you to do it; you have to do it yourself.
DH: Thank you for your time.
[31:28]
MW: And, Dawn, go ahead and ask her if—let’s see I wanted to know—do you have any maxims or sayings that you live your life by—that represent what you think?
LR: I think—well lately, it’s been—no, not really. I mean I—no, I joke about some stuff like the pending doom. Like I used to be a little more pessimistic; I’m more optimistic now. One is you have to be optimistic. Life is hard, and it’s hard to ever—I mean, you learn this—as I get older I get to learn that, you know, it’s not—you may see someone as—you may think, Look how lucky they are; their life is so perfect. And I’ve learned that everyone has their own struggles and battles that they’re struggling with. So one is you have to be optimistic; so at the end of the day life is short, and that I did learn. Life is short, and you want to find happiness, and your happiness may not be the same happiness as the person sitting at your side. So whatever it is that makes you happy, go for it. So right now my whole thing is find happiness, and whatever the cost of that happiness is you just have to go for it.
And then, you know, your family, obviously. Love your family. And the pending doom, I always laugh because you can’t live thinking that pending doom is happening, you Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 13
know. That’s hard; there’s always something happening and just if you want something, work hard for it.
I mean you want to want it bad in order to get it, and I think when you want something bad, you’ll get it. People work hard. I’ve seen miracles happen, but it’s based on hard work. My election didn’t happen just because I was sitting, and it was just so lucky or for me. I work hard; it took me years to get there. I mean working campaigning years, which is longer than your usual campaigns, and so that will be my thing right now is happiness is critical. If you’re happy, if you’re good with yourself spiritually, physically, mentally, then you will be able to make a lot of people happy as well. So for people that have kids, I’m like if I’m happy then I can make my little girl happy; so that’s important.
MW: What Hispanic women in the state of Utah have you admired or have mentored you? Anyone? Any—
LR: Um yeah, I think there’s been different people, so I’ve learned a lot from my friends that are very successful Hispanic women—young—I’ve learned from all of them. I had an opportunity to work with, for example, just Josie Valdez, for example. She ran for lieutenant governor, was a very successful SBA director here—so just names that have been around for longer—a lot of men of course, because men are just in numbers, but you know Theresa Martinez at the University of Utah—just that things they’ve been able to accomplish to open doors for everybody else. Because this is what happens when you’re a minority and whether it’s based on gender or, you know, ethnicity, religion, somebody else has to open those doors. I feel like I may be opening doors for others, but somebody else already opened the door for me.
You know, Alicia Suazo, for example. She was—she took over her husband’s seat when he died, Pete Suazo—so this was Senator Pete Suazo's seat; he passed away on an ATV accident—tragic accident ’01, ‘02?5 His wife [who was a] teacher—elementary teacher—in Rose Park took over his seat, but she didn’t want it back; it wasn’t what she wanted to do. But she is just amazing.
You have Dahlia Cordova for example. When I worked at Salt Lake [City] School District, she was a principal of Franklin Elementary, and now she’s a principal for—it’s a school in my district to, I just forgot; I spaced it—a great school, amazing stuff in terms of education hands down, wow.
So for me it’s just people that have made a huge difference in their areas of expertise—that have—I just I—like in my area and have been mentors in terms of just teaching me what they know in that area. So that would be—and my friends. I mean I have great friends; it’s funny cause when you’re friends, you’re in this very personal level, but when I see them in their areas working—for example, one of my best friends, her name
5. Pete Suazo was Utah’s first Hispanic state senator; he died in an ATV accident in 2001. His wife, Alicia Suzao, was asked to finish out his term in office.Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 14
is Sylvia Haro; she’s a very predominant, you know, prominent Republican, Latina Republican. Many of my friends happen to be Republicans, and it—but I—she worked in banking. She worked for Zions bank before I came in. I just love some of the stuff she’s done; I’m just like love it. I mean she’s just so good with people, just so good with PR and communications and the way she handles herself; I just love her. I want to be like you when I get older.
So you know, just some of those people that have been just interesting to see them in action, I like that. A lot of people say the same thing about me when they know me personally; they’re like, “Oh, you’re a senator? Like cause I’m pretty laid back and I’m pretty funny and I like to joke a lot. They’re like, Do you transform yourself when you’re talking about immigration or serious issues. And I’m like, “Probably,” because that’s just where I am, but I like to see that with other people too when they just change towards their whatever they’re good at, you know, their professional side of them, and I learn a lot from that too.
MW: Your advice you’ve given to women in general, would it be the same for Hispanic women in the state of Utah—
LR: Oh yeah.
MW: —or do you have special—
LR: No, you know, I think, the nice thing—I think Hispanic women have a lot of opportunities. It’s funny, you know; it’s hard to overcome some barriers, but at the same time when you’re working hard, people recognize that and when people are in need for diversity, you know, they will continue to look for you.
One of the people that I admire the most, and I don’t want to go without mentioning her, it’s one of my best friends, and she is—she just made partner—the first minority partner, I think, and woman partner—woman minority partner for Holland & Hart, which is a huge law firm. Her name is Cecilia Romero; she happens to be married to Senator Ross Romero, but see, for me, it’s not Senator Ross Romero’s wife; he is the husband of Cecilia Romero. One of the most intelligent women, she’s really young; she’s probably like three years older than me. We went to school together; she actually introduced me to the father of my daughter. We won’t blame her for that, just joking, (laughter) but she is a one of my closest friend. She’s the mother of two little kids—amazing. She just made partner. I mean, I want that, and I told her my take, “I’m going to be getting you some covers for that.” And she’s like, “Are you crazy? I don’t want that.” Because you hear her story—her story is one of those compelling, you know, first generation American stories—amazing—so I just love her. She’s an attorney; she’s just a scary attorney. If I need help, I’ll go to her. (laughs) Amazing, you know, it’s just like—and then you see her in her personal life: what a great mom she is, what a great wife she is, what a great friend she is—you know and just want—you just have to balance your life. It’s a good example of balance in someone’s life; she will be one of mine. Utah Women’s Walk: Luz Robles 15
MW: Good.
[39:10]
MW: Do you have any other questions, Dawn?
DH: Nope.
MW: If we have follow up questions for you—
LR: Just come in.
MW: Or email—
LR: Oh yeah, email me.
MW: —you or call you—
LR: Yeah, email me.
MW: —because we may need to know spellings or—
LR: Yes, for the names.
MW: —or something—
LR: Uh-huh.
MW: —or names and contacts.
LR: Just email me; that’d be great, yeah thank you.
MW: Thank you for your time. Anything else you would like to add—that you would like—
LR: No, just thank you for doing this. I think sometimes we, as women are more shy of talking about the great accomplishments women have, and in this great state this is pretty normal thing of women, you know. We are harder on ourselves and sometimes forget to just talk about who we are and embrace the great successes. I thank you for doing this, and this is really cool and awesome. I’m looking forward to seeing this.
MW: Well, we are really grateful for your time and grateful to have you on there; we only have right now—we have Ruby Chacon an artist, a Hispanic artist. Are you familiar with her?
End of interview